


Frankenstein: The True Monster

by jordieey



Series: Essays I Don't Want to Delete [2]
Category: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Bad Parenting, Character Study, Essays, Hurt No Comfort, Monsters, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 12:00:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19005382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordieey/pseuds/jordieey
Summary: An essay (passage analysis) examining Victor Frankenstein, and proving he is the true monster of his story.





	Frankenstein: The True Monster

**Author's Note:**

> This is an essay I wrote for my English class in college (first year) which I am quite happy with. It's short, because we have a limited word count. 
> 
> This essay received an A. 
> 
> Enjoy!

My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement….the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places...I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit….my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion. (Shelley) 

 

As is shown throughout the course of the book, the world in which Frankenstein and the monster inhabit is not nearly as simple as good versus evil. In fact, some have even argued that Frankenstein himself is the true monster of the story. It may be that they are correct. As mentioned in the above passage, during the course of his labors Frankenstein’s “cheek had grown pale with study, and [his] person had become emaciated with confinement.” (Shelley) This is not the image of a healthy man. In fact, it seems as though Frankenstein is beginning to take on the appearance of a corpse, as he himself slowly loses elements of his humanity. When reading Frankenstein, one must remember that Victor Frankenstein is the one to bestow life on the monster, thus tying them together. Whether he likes it or not.

One may think that, having created the monster, Frankenstein would feel some sense of responsibility to this being to which he has given life. This, as the readers are shown, is not so. Victor does not feel the pride at achieving such an amazing feat, nor does he attempt to educate the monster on how to act like a respectable human being. Instead, he “rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing [his] bedchamber…” (Shelley, pg 39) Victor Frankenstein is the first person the monster sees after his awakening, which is surely a bewildering and upsetting experience. He is also the closest thing the monster has to any kind of parent. In a sense, Victor Frankenstein is the monster’s father. And yet, in spite of this, Victor flees from the monster in terror, horrified at what he has done. In a sense, Frankenstein has abandoned a child, and left him to face the world without any guidance, and no way to discern right from wrong. 

Indeed, many people would agree that Frankenstein is the true monster in his story. In his essay, Frankenstein and the Monster of Representation, Daniel Cottom states: “For this is the parable of Frankenstein: in seeking to represent himself, man makes himself a monster.” (Cottom, pg 60) In this article, Cottom is attempting to prove that the monster represents humanity. The monster’s appearance, he reasons, is a visual representation of the inconsistency of human beings themselves. One need only to look at Frankenstein’s own monstrosity to concede to such a point. While the monster is horrifying in appearance, he gives off the initial impression that he could be a good person, if he were given some guidance and acceptance. For example, in chapter twelve, the monster explains about a family of cottagers he had become fond of. However, instead telling a story of how he terrorized the cottagers, like one might expect, the monster explains: “I had been accustomed....to steal their store for my own consumption; but when I found this inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained…” Such is not the action of a heartless monster, as Frankenstein views his creation, but that of a compassionate human being. 

What perhaps highlights Frankenstein’s own monstrosity is the fact that he simply cannot recognize the monster’s humanity. He simply refuses to look beyond the misshapen features to see the potential for good underneath. In a similar fashion, Frankenstein cannot look past his own handsome face to see his own corrupt nature. For example, in chapter seventeen, when the monster demands Frankenstein make him a bride, he flat out refuses, saying “...you shall never make me base my own eyes. Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world!” (Shelley) One may say that Frankenstein has a right to hate the monster, and subsequently refuse him, simply because monster killed his younger brother, William, earlier in the book. Even before the monster came to be, Frankenstein felt that perhaps what he was doing was somehow wrong. During the process of creating monster, “often did [Frankenstein’s] human nature turn with loathing from [his] occupation.” (Shelley) On some level, Frankenstein disliked the monster before he was even complete. When he killed William, Frankenstein’s hatred was only cemented. 

While Frankenstein’s hatred is certainly understandable, it is perhaps somewhat misguided. One must keep in mind that Frankenstein himself is responsible for the monster’s existence. Thus, he is tied to the monster, and has a certain duty, whether Frankenstein likes it or not. Considering the monster’s bride was never completed, much less animated, it may never be known how she would have reacted to being forcefully brought to life. It is at this point in the book where Frankenstein is finally forced to take some for of responsibility for the monster, and indeed has to be coerced by the monster himself. Since Frankenstein neglected to teach the monster how to be a civilized being, hated and scorned him, he must now create a companion for the monster, so that he will not be so lonely. This request is not entirely unreasonable, despite Frankenstein’s abject horror at the idea. The monster is one of a kind; there are no others like him, and everyone he meets scorns him. This is a lonely existence that no one would like to live, so the fact that the monster wants someone to spend his life, such as it is, with someone is logical. Even when Frankenstein flat out refuses, without any thought to the monster’s isolation, he does not erupt, like one would expect a true monster to do. Instead, he calmly says, “I am content to reason with you.” (Shelley) Of course, the monster proceeds to threaten Frankenstein soon after, but considering his isolation, this is understandable, if not completely moral. 

The full force of Frankenstein’s monstrous nature seems to come to head in chapter twenty, when he destroys the monster’s only of companionship before his very eyes. At this time, Frankenstein is thinking of nothing but what havoc the monster and his bride may wreak together, and once again discards the monster’s very real emotions. Even now, after he monster has been threatening Frankenstein into building his bride, is deeply affected by this lost opportunity. In despair, he exclaims, “Shall each man find a wife...and I be alone?” (Shelley) This is clearly the monster’s greatest fear, and Frankenstein himself had just made it come true. 

Indeed, it does seem as though Victor Frankenstein is the true monster of this story, as is alluded to early on, in which Frankenstein “seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit.” (Shelley) From there, the monsterstrosity of his nature only grew worse.

**Author's Note:**

> Works Cited  
>  Cottom, Daniel. “Frankenstein and the Monster of Representation.” Sub-Stance, vol. 9, no. 28, 1980, pp. 60–71. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.ardc.talonline.ca/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=1981072860.
> 
> Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus : the 1818 Text. Oxford ; New York :Oxford University Press, 1998. Online.
> 
> Reviews always appreciated.


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